


just a minor inconvenience

by nightswatch



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 07:45:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1736798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire ends up having to take care of his niece for a week and Enjolras isn't as bad with kids as people would think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	just a minor inconvenience

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【中文翻译】Just a Minor Inconvenience](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11596128) by [BinaryTree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BinaryTree/pseuds/BinaryTree)



> tw for hospitals (but there are no horrible injuries or anything like that)

Grantaire was in the middle of deciding whether it was a good idea to just throw his laptop out of the window to deal with the pain Photoshop was causing him when his phone rang.

He recognized the number, it was the hospital, so it was either Joly or Bossuet who was calling him, and for a second he considered not answering, because he really needed to get this poster done, then again, neither of them would call if it wasn’t important.

Grantaire saved the excuse of a poster he’d created and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Grantaire?” It was Joly, but he didn’t sound as cheerful as he usually did when he called Grantaire.

“Yeah?” Grantaire asked, suddenly wary. “Something wrong?”

“Okay, look, this is really nothing to worry about,” Joly started, and even though it was obviously meant to keep him from freaking out it did the exact opposite.

“What happened?” Grantaire asked before Joly could say anything else.

“Your sister’s here, but-”

“What?” Grantaire interrupted, feeling like someone had just punched him in the gut. “My sister? Are you sure it’s her? Is she alright?”

“Yes, I’m sure it’s her and I promise you, she’s fine,” Joly said slowly, in a voice that he usually reserved for freaked-out relatives of his patients. Oh god, he was a freaked-out relative. “I need you to come here, though, there’s some things we need to discuss.”

The bus ride to the hospital seemed endless and for the first time Grantaire cursed himself for selling his car. He really didn’t need it, sure, but he would have got to the hospital so much faster if he still had it. He spent the thirty minutes it took him to get there making up worst case scenarios, because even though Joly had told him, promised him, that she was going to be fine, he still hadn’t mentioned what exactly was wrong and it was driving him crazy.

When Grantaire arrived at the hospital, he was somewhere between panicking and bursting into tears and it was apparently quite obvious, because the first thing Joly did when he spotted him was to pull him into a hug.

“Please tell me what’s going on,” Grantaire said when Joly finally let go of him.

“She fell down a flight of stairs,” Joly started, “she has a couple of cracked ribs and a broken arm, and we’re going to have to operate on that to make sure it heals properly, but it’s not a big deal, seriously. She also has a mild concussion, but she’s definitely going to be just fine.”

Grantaire let out a sigh of relief, because it really didn’t sound too bad, although he was dimly aware that his hands were still a little shaky and that his heart was beating way too fast. He wanted a cigarette. And a drink. And maybe another hug, just for good measure.

But he’d quit smoking three years ago and he’d promised himself not to drink when he was anxious about half a year ago, so his only option was to pull Joly into another hug, which he probably really didn’t have time for, because he was a doctor and needed to save lives, for fuck’s sake, so Grantaire needed to pull himself together.

Joly put a gentle hand on his back and led him down the hall, going on and on about how there was nothing to worry about until they’d reached his sister’s room. She was awake and smiling at him when he entered.

“Hey, Marie, what are you doing, falling down stairs and scaring the shit out of me, huh?” He gave her a careful kiss on the cheek. He’d spent all his life worrying about her, until she’d finally packed her bags and left and had settled down far, far away from their parents. She’d sent him money when she’d been able to spare it, she’d let him sleep on her couch for weeks when he’d finally left home, too. She’d been the only family he’d had left for a way too long time.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said lightly. “Believe it or not, but it wasn’t like I was planning on that to happen.”

Grantaire stuck his tongue out at her, but quickly grew serious again. “Is there anything I can do? Have you called Paul?”

“Your friend has actually done that for me already, but there is something I need you to do for me,” Marie said, looking like she was about to tell him that he was going to have to chop his own head off. “Paul is still in Shanghai on a business trip and he won’t be able to come home until Friday, maybe Saturday, but I’m going to have to stay here for a couple of days, so I need someone to take care of Belle.”

“Oh,” Grantaire said, nodding slowly, “yeah, I can do that, no problem.” Any other time he would have said no, not because he wasn’t good with kids, quite frankly, he was fantastic with kids, but not for prolonged periods of time. It was essential that he could give the kids back at the end of the day, because he could only play the responsible adult for so long. But in this case he didn’t really have a choice.

“Are you sure? I mean, obviously she doesn’t really need to be supervised twenty-four hours a day, but she can be quite a handful.”

Grantaire shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll get along.” He loved his niece to bits and he was pretty sure he’d manage to keep a six-year-old girl occupied and out of trouble for a couple of days.

“Just make sure she eats something other than sweets, okay?” Marie said sternly. “I’ll give you my keys so you can pick up some of her stuff. And you’ll have to pick her up from school. I’ll call them and let them know that you’ll come get her later.”

Grantaire, starting to freak out internally, only kept nodding when she started rattling off a list of things Belle was and was not allowed to do, what he had to pay attention to and so on and so on. It was just a minor inconvenience, he told himself. He could handle this.

He ended up having to get his niece at school before he got around to doing anything else and was greeted with a delighted squeal. He tried to explain to her what had happened in the most child-friendly manner he was capable of, but Belle still insisted that she wanted to see her mommy _right now_ , so Grantaire had no other choice but to take her back to the hospital.

Marie made Belle promise that she’d be good while she stayed with him, then he took Belle back to his sister’s place to pick up enough of Belle’s clothes to last them the next couple of days and told Belle to pick out some toys that she wanted to bring.

Once again, Grantaire came to regret that he’d sold his car, because Belle wouldn’t leave without her six favorite stuffed animals, which included a massive purple unicorn and which Grantaire got to carry back to his own apartment.

“Okay, Belle, listen to me,” Grantaire said once they’d made it up the stairs. “You have to do me a favor and go sit on the couch for a bit while I clean up the place a little, is that okay?” He hadn’t really expected to have a kid hanging around his place for nearly a week, so it was accordingly messy.

Belle nodded. “I’ll do my homework. And when I’m done, will you draw with me?”

“Sure, anything you want.”

Grantaire quickly collected the empty takeout cartons that were strewn all over the place, grabbed the two empty beer bottles from two nights ago that were still on the coffee table, put all the books he’d been leaving all over the flat back where they belonged, made sure the guest room was clean and tried to find nice bedsheets to put on the bed in there to make it look more like an actual guest room and less like a storage room.

He collected all the dirty clothes that he’d discarded on the hardwood floor, made sure his shoes were actually on his shoe rack and not scattered all around it, then he moved on to clean the bathroom and the kitchen, made sure none of the food in the fridge was out of date and hid all of his beer.

When he was done, his apartment was still cluttered as ever, but looked tidier than it had in months. The only thing that was still as shrouded in chaos as always was his desk. He never cleaned up his desk. All in all, it looked like a responsible adult lived here, which Grantaire counted as an achievement.

He went back to the living room to check on Belle, who seemed to be done with her homework and had started inspecting his shelves. She seemed to find his Wii particularly interesting and started bouncing up and down, clapping her hands, when Grantaire told her that he’d play with her later on.

That was pretty much when he realized that he was now left with a giddy six-year-old, who immediately took to wrecking his flat while he was busy making dinner.

Yeah, the next couple of days were going to be great fun.

The fun actually started only a few hours later. Grantaire was fast asleep, well, had been fast asleep until his mattress had started shaking and he’d jerked awake only to find Belle staring down at him, clutching at his shirt.

“Hmm?” It was really the only reaction that could be expected of him in the middle of the night. He slowly moved to turn the lights on, blinking at Belle. “What’s wrong?”

“I heard something,” Belle whispered, her eyes wide. “I think there’s something under my bed.”

“There’s nothing under your bed,” Grantaire mumbled. Belle didn’t move, though, only kept tugging at his shirt, so Grantaire sat up with a heavy sigh. Right, that’s not how you dealt with children, not even if it was two o’clock in the morning and you could hardly keep your eyes open.“I’ll check, okay?”

Grantaire turned on all the lights and lowered himself to the floor. Obviously there was nothing there except for a thin layer of dust. He turned to look at Belle, who was still standing in the doorway, watching him. “Can’t see anything,” Grantaire told her. “Do you want to go back to bed?”

She nodded and climbed back into Grantaire’s guest bed, clutching her teddy bear to her chest. Grantaire tucked her in and ruffled her hair before he went to turn off the lights.

“What if it comes back when you turn the lights off?”

 Grantaire let himself fall into his old beanbag he’d been storing in here, mostly forgotten, only used for when they ran out of space to sit in the living room, once bright green, but now dirty and splattered with all kinds of stains. “I’ll wait here for a bit. Just go to sleep.”

“Good night, Uncle ‘Aire,” Belle mumbled.

“Night, Belle.”

Grantaire fell asleep not too much later and woke up with a stiff neck about an hour later. He dragged himself back to his own bed, making a mental note to check for monsters _before_ he sent Belle to bed the next day.

* * *

“Hey, Belle?” Grantaire called. His niece was sitting on the living room floor with her coloring book in front of her. He was pretty sure that she’d drawn on the floor at some point, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. “How do you feel about meeting some friends of mine?”

It was Tuesday evening and his friends would be gathering at the Musain in about an hour. Ever since he’d gone to his first meeting with Bahorel he’d never missed a single one. No hangover had been able to stop him, he’d been there when he’d had the flu, much to Joly’s horror, he’d also been there when he’d had work waiting for him at home. Then again, work had never been his first priority.

“Aren’t we going to visit mommy today?” Belle asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“Your mommy actually thought it might be better if we didn’t come to come visit her every day, but we can go say hi to her after I pick you up from school tomorrow.”

Belle nodded. “We should. I’ll draw a picture for her.”

“That’s a great idea,” Grantaire said, kneeling down next to her. “Now, how about meeting my friends?”

 “Are your friends nice?” Belle asked.

“Yeah, sure. They’re my friends for a reason,” he said, winking.

Belle grinned. “Then I want to meet them.”

Well, he’d definitely make a point in not arguing with Enjolras tonight.

Fifteen minutes later they were on their way to the Musain, which was just around the corner from Grantaire’s apartment. Grantaire let Belle ride on his back all the way there, even though he knew he’d regret it, probably sooner than later, because she’d actually got pretty heavy since he’d carried her around the last time. It got even more uncomfortable for him when Belle’s foot tangled in the strap of his bag and was slowly but surely starting to choke him to death.

He’d never been so happy about finally reaching the Musain. He let Belle climb off his back, then he took her by the hand and led her up the stairs.

Enjolras and Combeferre were already there as per usual, brooding over some papers and newspaper articles. They looked up, however, when Grantaire and Belle walked into the room, both of them outright gaping at them.

Right, Grantaire hadn’t mentioned he’d be bringing his niece. He hadn’t thought it would be a problem, but now that he got a good look at Enjolras’ face, he was starting to realize that he maybe should have said something beforehand.

“Grantaire…” Enjolras said slowly, his eyes on Belle, who was now trying to hide behind Grantaire’s legs.

“And who is that?” Combeferre asked, now smiling pleasantly, even though he still seemed somewhat taken aback as well.

Grantaire wasn’t really sure why they seemed to be this surprised until he looked down at Belle, because he wanted to get her to introduce herself. _Oh_. Well, they were quite obviously related. The curly black hair alone was a tell tale sign, but she had his eyes, too. She could easily be mistaken for his kid. “This is Isabelle, my niece,” Grantaire said quickly.

“Your niece,” Enjolras repeated, still staring in a way that made Grantaire a little uncomfortable. Enjolras usually didn’t look at him for prolonged amounts of time, unless they were arguing, then he had his undivided attention.

“Well, hello there, I’m Combeferre and this is Enjolras.” Combeferre patted on the bench beside him. “Would you like to come over here and sit with us?”

“Go on, Combeferre’s nice,” Grantaire said, and that was really all it took to get her to skip over to the table.

Enjolras narrowed his eyes. “Oh, _Combeferre_ is nice.”

Grantaire only grinned at him and left Belle in the care of Combeferre, who was probably more qualified in that respect anyway. He got himself a cup of coffee and some apple juice for Belle and when he got back, Joly and Bossuet were there, too, already joking around with her.

Jehan joined them not too much later. “Oh my god, she’s _precious_ ,” he cooed and immediately went to greet Belle, disregarding everyone else in the room. When Courfeyrac got to the Musain his friends actually started arguing about who got to sit next to her, which elicited some eye-rolling from Enjolras, who seemed to be keen on getting their meeting started, but didn’t receive any attention whatsoever.

Bahorel arrived late with Feuilly in tow, looking from Grantaire to his niece and back to him, whistling.  “Grantaire, I had no idea you had an illegitimate child.”

“Bahorel,” Joly scolded him immediately, “watch it.”

Belle hadn’t even heard, though, she was much too busy drawing a picture with Jehan, who’d somehow snatched away all of Enjolras’ markers. Enjolras wasn’t glaring at them yet, so Grantaire had reason to hope that he might not get killed for the inevitable death of Enjolras’ beloved markers.

After Courfeyrac had told him that Marius wouldn’t be coming, Enjolras tried to start the meeting, but soon noticed that no one even made an effort to pay attention to him. Even Feuilly, who usually got nothing but praise and appreciation from Enjolras, was too distracted to listen, because he was busy building paper planes and folding what looked like an origami zoo.

Enjolras eventually resigned and joined Grantaire in his usual corner. Grantaire had seen him look much grumpier in the past, so he smiled at him when he sat down. “Sorry about hijacking your meeting.”

“Don’t worry about it, we didn’t have much of an agenda anyway,” Enjolras mumbled. “I didn’t know you had a niece.”

Grantaire snorted. It wasn’t like Enjolras had ever been interested in his life, so he wasn’t surprised at all. “Well, now you do.”

“I didn’t even know you had siblings,” he added, a strange look in his eyes. Grantaire was still trying to figure out what it meant, when Enjolras spoke up again. “Are you babysitting?”

“Yeah, until Friday,” Grantaire told him. “My sister’s in hospital and her husband is on a business trip, so Belle’s staying with me for a couple of days.”

“Is your sister okay?” Enjolras asked, sounding legitimately concerned.

“Yeah, it’s nothing too serious, but she won’t be home for a while.”

Enjolras nodded slowly. “Belle seems like a sweet kid.”

“She is,” Grantaire agreed. “Unless she doesn’t want to go to bed.” They’d had a bit of a struggle last night and when her puppy eyes hadn’t worked on Grantaire, Belle had started sulking. The only good thing was that Grantaire was immune to sulking people.

Enjolras chuckled. Grantaire thought he might die. Making Enjolras laugh was one of his favorite things to do, but sadly he didn’t manage that as often as he would have liked.

They fell silent, both of them watching as Courfeyrac and Joly threw paper planes at each other, laughing when one of them landed in Bossuet’s water. Later on, Courfeyrac produced a game of Monopoly from somewhere downstairs and it turned out that Belle’s puppy eyes actually did work on Enjolras of all people and persuaded him to help her play.

It took Grantaire a whole lot of convincing to get Belle to go home that evening, especially because she didn’t seem to want to leave Enjolras’ side. Grantaire really could relate to that.

* * *

The next morning, Grantaire made pancakes for breakfast, with chocolate chips and all, because he felt like he had to spoil Belle at least in _some_ way, because that was what good uncles did. Apparently good uncles also got to brush their niece’s hair, which turned into a struggle that Grantaire knew all too well, and which was the main reason he actually never brushed his.

After breakfast he took her to school, stocked up on groceries and actually managed to get some work done before he had to pick her up again. They went by the hospital on their way home and as soon as they were back at the apartment, Belle went to hide in the guest room, telling him she had important business to attend to and that she’d let him know when she was done.

Grantaire left her be, deciding he’d use that time to get some more work done. He was fighting another silent battle with Photoshop when Belle appeared next to him some time later, excitedly tugging at his sleeve.

“What’s up? Do you want dinner?” Grantaire asked, quickly saving his work before he turned to look down at her.

“Can we go visit Enjolras?” she asked. “Please.”

“I, um… why do you want to visit Enjolras?”

“I drew a picture for him,” Belle explained. “I want to go give it to him.”

“Well, he’s probably still at work, you know?” In any case, Enjolras really wouldn’t be happy about them visiting. He always had a lot of work to do and he didn’t take kindly to people who showed up unannounced. Or maybe that was just when it was Grantaire who showed up unannounced. Which had really only happened once.

Belle’s face fell. “Oh…”

“Maybe we can call him in a bit and see if he has time for us to come over.” He highly doubted it, but Belle’s face lit up again and Grantaire really didn’t have it in him to destroy all her hopes and dreams.

She didn’t mention it again until after dinner when Grantaire had settled on the couch, trying to find something for them to watch on TV. He wasn’t exactly sure what six-year-olds were into these days. Belle jumped onto the sofa, jumping up and down to get his attention. “Can we call Enjolras now?”

Grantaire sighed. “How about you just give me the picture you’ve drawn and I’ll give it to him the next time I see him.”

“But _I_ want to give it to him,” she whined, sticking out her bottom lip. “Please, ‘Aire.” She poked at his shoulder. “ _Please_.”

Grantaire reluctantly reached for his phone and dialed Enjolras’ number, already mentally preparing for Enjolras snapping at him. “Don’t be sad if he doesn’t have time, okay?” Grantaire said to Belle.

Belle only nodded, watching him expectantly.

“Grantaire?” Enjolras answered a few seconds later, sounding mildly surprised.

“Hello, I… well, this might be a bit weird but… the thing is… Belle drew a picture for you and she wants to give it to you personally, so she asked if we could go to your place. So she can give it to you. We won’t be staying for long, she just wants to bring it over.”

This was probably the strangest request he’d ever directed at Enjolras, but Enjolras’ answer was even stranger. “Oh, of course, come over whenever you want.”

“Are you sure?” Grantaire asked slowly, “I mean, I know you’re really busy…”

“No, it’s fine, I’m home and I will be all evening. I’m really not that busy right now.”

“Right, okay, we’ll see you in a bit, then.”

They took the bus to Enjolras’, Belle holding on tightly to her drawings. She hadn’t been idle this afternoon and had produced a total of five drawings to give to Enjolras.

“Do you like Enjolras?” she asked him when they’d found two seats at the back of the bus.

Grantaire nodded. “Yeah, sure, we’ve been friends for a really long time.” Or at least Grantaire liked to think that they were friends, despite their disagreements.

“Noo,” she whispered and leaned closer. “Do you _like_ him?”

“No,” Grantaire said quickly. Christ, he was pretty sure that his face was as red as a tomato. How did she even get that idea? “He’s just a friend.”

“Well, you _should_ like him,” Belle said, her voice still low. “He’s pretty.”

“Oh, you think he’s pretty?” Grantaire asked and poked her in the ribs.

Belle giggled. “Well, duh.” She grew serious a second later. “But don’t tell him. It’s a secret.”

“My lips are sealed,” Grantaire promised and made a show of zipping his lips shut.

It wasn’t a long ride to Enjolras’ and Belle spent most of it looking out the window until Grantaire took her by the hand and led her off the bus and down the street. Enjolras greeted them with a smile when he opened the door for them and thanked Belle profusely when she handed him the drawings she’d made for him.

It occurred to Grantaire that Enjolras was actually really good with kids and that he was also really good at hiding that particular fact. Or maybe Grantaire had just never seen him interact with children before.

“How’s everything going?” Enjolras asked when Belle had settled on his massive sofa with a bowl of ice cream in one hand and the TV remote in the other.

“Exceptionally well,” Grantaire replied. “I still have another two days to screw up, though.”

“Oh, come on, you’re not going to screw up.”

Grantaire raised his eyebrows. This was Enjolras he was talking to, Enjolras didn’t say encouraging things, not to him, Enjolras was the first one to agree that Grantaire was basically good for nothing. It was his own fault that he thought that way, of course, because when Grantaire had just joined their group he’d insisted that Enjolras give him something to do, too, because although he didn’t think they’d do much good, he could still help out. He’d got a bit sidetracked with the task Enjolras had given him. Needless to say, Enjolras hadn’t been all too happy. He’d refused to talk to Grantaire for about a month and had only glared at him every now and then.

“What?” Enjolras asked when Grantaire kept staring at him incredulously. “You like kids, kids like you.”

“It seems that you’re not bad with kids either,” Grantaire said lightly.

Enjolras shrugged. “Oh, don’t be fooled, usually they run away screaming. I never know what to say to them, I mean, they’re tiny humans, you can’t reason with them.”

“Well, you’re lucky she has a crush on you,” Grantaire mused, chuckling when a blush crept onto Enjolras’ cheeks.

Enjolras glared at him. “She’s like five, she doesn’t have a crush on me.”

“She’s six, and yes, she does. It’s perfectly understandable, you know. Everyone with eyes has a crush on you.”

Enjolras only started at him for a long moment.

“Anyway,” Grantaire mumbled, just now realizing what he’d just said, “I appreciate your undying faith in my parenting skills.”

Enjolras sighed one of his drawn-out sighs that he seemed to reserve for Grantaire only. He bit his lip as if he was about to say something, but remained silent and eventually joined Belle on the couch, denied her more ice cream in a voice that would have made Combeferre proud and quietly endured the Disney Channel show Belle seemed to be so very fond of.

Grantaire was pretty sure that he’d never been more in love with him.

* * *

 **Courfeyrac** : movies at my place tonight xxx

 **Courfeyrac** : bring food xxxx

Grantaire quickly glanced at Belle, who was putting together a puzzle on his kitchen table, and typed out a reply to Courfeyrac, telling him he couldn’t make it. For obvious reasons.

Courfeyrac’s answer came only seconds later.

 **Courfeyrac** : bring the kid

Which was followed by another group text.

 **Courfeyrac** : DISNEY FILMS ONLY R IS BRINGING PRINCESS BELLE XXX

 **Courfeyrac** : AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE FOOD!! XXXX

Grantaire snorted. Well, at least he didn’t have to think of something to entertain Belle with this evening. They made cupcakes after she’d finished her homework – actually Grantaire made them and Belle ate half of the frosting. Grantaire made an attempt to stop her and was successful for about five minutes until he had to turn his back.

It was one of many confirmations that he’d make the worst father on this planet. It wasn’t really new to him, after all he had trouble taking care of himself at times, there was no way he could be fulltime responsible for another human being.

Getting out of bed at the crack of dawn every day because he had to make breakfast was hard enough for only one week and he really wasn’t keen on doing it for the rest of his life. Although he had to admit that he liked reading bedtime stories and looking for lost stuffed animals and drawing pictures of robots and princesses and horses.

“We’re going to Courfeyrac’s now, okay? Tell me if you get bored, then we can go back home, but I’m pretty sure they’ll let you pick the movies and everything,” he told Belle as he packed up the cupcakes they’d made.

She nodded, beaming at him, and ran off to put on her shoes. She was ready to go before Grantaire had even emerged from the kitchen. “Is Enjolras going to be there?”

Grantaire grinned. Yeah, _someone_ definitely had a huge crush on Enjolras. “I don’t know. I mean, he probably has work to do, but we’ll see when we get there, right?”

Much to Grantaire’s surprise, Enjolras really was there, together with Combeferre, Jehan, Bahorel, Marius and Cosette. Belle immediately ran to Enjolras, who introduced her to Cosette and Marius, and smiled when Grantaire sat down next to him.

“Princess,” Courfeyrac cooed when he came waltzing into the living room, “I’m so glad you could make it.”

Belle bestowed him with her sweetest smile and Grantaire cleared his throat loudly.

“Yeah, nice to see you, too, Grantaire,” Courfeyrac added curtly, grinning from ear to ear as he turned back to his niece. “Now, Jehan has brought all of his Disney films, I thought you might want to pick the first one.” Courfeyrac put a stack of DVDs in front of Belle’s nose. “Right, please pick something sad, we want to see Bahorel cry,” Courfeyrac said.

Grantaire could almost hear Bahorel rolling his eyes and he was pretty sure he heard Combeferre snigger, but when he looked over to where he was sitting in his armchair, his expression was nothing but serious.

It took a while until they all settled down to watch a film, though. At first, Belle insisted on handing out the cupcakes she’d made, then she ended up sitting in Cosette’s lap, braiding her hair, not with precision, but with a look of immense concentration on her face. Cosette didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

They eventually started watching the Lion King, Belle squeezed between Enjolras and Cosette, a big bowl of popcorn in her lap, as happy as can be. His sister was going to hate him for spoiling her kid as much as he did, but this technically wasn’t his fault.

“Cosette and I made something for you,” Jehan said, just before Combeferre had the chance to press play, and produced a crown from under the table. It was made of aluminum foil, but was masterfully crafted nonetheless. He passed it over and Cosette put it on Belle’s head. She received a squeal and a hug in return.

“Why tried to put it on Enjolras earlier,” Jehan said to Grantaire from the other end of the sofa. “He looked adorable, but he didn’t seem to like it very much.”

“Please tell me you took a picture,” Grantaire stage-whispered. He knew that Enjolras hated it when people tried to make him look silly, no matter if it was a party hat on his birthday or antlers at a Christmas party.

Courfeyrac nodded eagerly. “I’ll show you later.”

Enjolras made a somewhat annoyed noise that was collectively ignored.

“You didn’t like the crown?” Belle asked him, sounding incredibly offended.

“Oh no,” Enjolras said quickly, “it’s a lovely crown.”

“You can borrow it for a bit.” Belle tugged the crown off her head and handed it to Enjolras. “You can give it back later.”

“Thank you,” Enjolras said, trying to smile, but sounding like he was being tortured. The fact that Courfeyrac was howling with laughter probably wasn’t helping at all.

Grantaire could hardly concentrate on the film. First of all, he’d seen it about a billion times already, and second of all, he hadn’t been this close to Enjolras in a really long time. Now they were pressed together on Courfeyrac’s sofa, and Enjolras was so warm and Grantaire had to concentrate incredibly hard to keep himself from just resting his head against Enjolras’ shoulder.

Obviously Bahorel didn’t shed a single tear when Mufasa died. Enjolras, however, sniffled a little.

Belle patted him on the arm. “It’s okay, it’s not real, you know?”

* * *

“I can drive you home if you want,” Enjolras muttered to Grantaire long after The Lion King had ended.

Belle was insisting on staying, but it was getting late and Grantaire had promised to get her to bed at a reasonable hour and she had school the next day and _ten more minutes_ had turned into a much longer amount of time a while ago. Grantaire honestly didn’t want to impose on Enjolras, then again, he’d offered, hadn’t he? And he might be able to use that to his advantage.

“Well, Enjolras is going home now,” he said to Belle, who was drawing a new tattoo on Bahorel’s arm with a sharpie. “He said he’d drive us home, but only if we go _right now_.”

Belle looked at Enjolras, who nodded to confirm what Grantaire had just told her.

“Fine,” she said, jumping to her feet, running to Enjolras and gripping his hand.

Grantaire followed them down to the car, shaking his head.

* * *

Grantaire watched as Belle climbed up the steps to the slide, waving at him enthusiastically. Grantaire waved back, doing his best not to yawn or, even worse, fall asleep while Belle was running about the playground.

He’d spent all night doing work and now he was exhausted. He’d been looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but apparently Paul wasn’t leaving Shanghai until the evening, so Belle would be really staying with him for another night. He didn’t mind. Not much at least.

Today she’d stolen his phone, God knows how she’d figured out his password, and had asked Enjolras if he wanted to come to the playground after school. Enjolras had agreed to meet them, at which point Grantaire had given up on the idea of calling him and telling him that he really didn’t have to, because apparently he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

Grantaire looked down to check his phone one more time, finding a text from Enjolras, telling him that he’d be there soon.

He grinned down at his phone, then he looked back up to see if Belle was anywhere near him so he could let her know. Except that Belle was nowhere to be found. Grantaire stood up, looking around frantically, trying to keep his initial panic at bay. Maybe she was just hiding behind some post or maybe she was in the little playhouse.

Grantaire went to check, asking himself if he was allowed to panic now that he hadn’t found her in there. Marie would kill him if he lost her kid.

He couldn’t believe she’d trusted him with his in the first place. Sure, he’d been on his best behavior all week, hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, had tried to be the responsible adult he was supposed to be anyway. And it had worked for a while, but, as always, he’d managed to fuck up in the end.

“Uncle ‘Aire, look who’s here!”

Grantaire spun around and found Belle standing next to the sandbox, her arms slung around Enjolras’ leg. He let out a sigh of relief. “Belle, I was looking for you.”

“I just saw Enjolras and wanted to say hello.”

“Tell me next time, yeah?” Grantaire said, ruffling her hair.

They built a sand castle, took a couple of photos that Grantaire had to send to Marie and then wandered back to Grantaire’s, after Belle had invited Enjolras over for dinner.

“You are allowed to say no to her, you know?” Grantaire whispered to him. “Not that I don’t want you to come over for dinner or anything, but…” He shrugged. “I mean, I know you’re never not busy, so don’t feel bad if you don’t have time or anything.”

“I know,” Enjolras said, smiling. “I do have time. Every now and then I’m allowed to take an afternoon off.”

Grantaire nodded. “Okay, yeah, I just wanted to make sure.”

For some reason Enjolras was still smiling at him and it left him somewhat speechless, so he took to listening to Belle telling Enjolras about what she’d learned at school that day.

Grantaire then made dinosaur chicken nuggets for dinner while Enjolras kept Belle occupied and when Grantaire joined them, carrying plates full of food, the two of them were just about to finish setting up a pillow fort right in the middle of Grantaire’s living room.

It collapsed on them halfway through dinner and Grantaire only barely managed to keep the blankets from falling right onto their food.

When Belle had finished eating, she grinned at Grantaire and then tugged at Enjolras’ sleeve. “Enjolras, are you staying the night?”

Enjolras managed to smile back at her, although he did look a little dumbfounded at first. “Um, no, I don’t think so.”

“But sleepovers are so much fun,” Belle said insistently.

“Yeah, Enjolras doesn’t like sleepovers,” Grantaire said, “there’s no joy in his life.”

“No, I do like sleepovers, but you’re sleeping over already, so there’s no space for me,” Enjolras said to Belle. Well, his argument was sound.

“’Aire has a really big bed, you could share. I always share my bed with my friends when they sleep over.”

Grantaire wasn’t quite sure if his face was as red as Enjolras’, but it was definitely close. Enjolras in his bed, that’d be the day.

“Ah, you know,” Enjolras said, “I sometimes hit people in my sleep and I really don’t want to do that to Grantaire.”

“Oh,” Belle said, looking like she was thinking really hard. “But maybe we can we bake cookies before you leave, Uncle ‘Aire, can we bake cookies?”

“Cookies, huh?” Grantaire asked and pulled her to her feet. “I guess we can. Unless Enjolras doesn’t like cookies.”

Belle turned to Enjolras with wide eyes. “You do, don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course I do,” Enjolras said hastily, grinning at Grantaire.

Grantaire really wasn’t sure what on earth had driven Enjolras to be so nice to him all of a sudden, but he’d sure as hell enjoy it while it lasted. He collected their empty plates and Belle marched them to the kitchen, bossing them around without hesitation.

Enjolras followed her instructions without batting an eye and together they managed to keep Belle from eating all the raw cookie dough.

“Right,” Grantaire said, looking around the kitchen, “why don’t you two go watch that show with those people who sing a lot and I’ll clean up.”

Belle nodded eagerly and grabbed Enjolras by the hand, dragging him back to the living room, chattering excitedly.

Ten minutes later Enjolras was back in the kitchen, smiling fondly. “She fell asleep,” he muttered and grabbed a dishtowel to help Grantaire clean up. “She told me that you painted her bedroom.”

“I did,” Grantaire said, nodding slowly.

“And she said you’re her favorite uncle,” Enjolras added, smiling brightly.

“I’m the only uncle she has,” Grantaire told him. “And I’m not a very good one.”

Enjolras frowned. “Yes, you are.”

“Enjolras, I nearly lost her at the playground today.” He wished he could say that he didn’t still hate himself for it, because in the end everything had turned out fine, but still. He’d nearly lost her.

“But that wasn’t your fault.”

“Of course it was my fault. I was the one who looked away for a second too long.”

Enjolras put down his dishtowel and took a step towards him. “That could have happened to anyone. Combeferre once lost me at the mall.”

Grantaire couldn’t help but snort. “You’re a grown man, I doubt anyone gave Combeferre shit for losing you. Marie would have cold-bloodedly murdered me.”

“Actually, Courfeyrac did give him shit,” Enjolras muttered and put his hand on Grantaire’s back. “Don’t beat yourself up about this, okay?”

Grantaire only made a vague breathy noise, because _Enjolras was touching him_ and he didn’t seem to want to stop doing so, since he kept his hand right where it was.

“How’s your sister?” Enjolras asked.

“She’s fine.” Her operation had gone well, but if Joly could be believed, it hadn’t been anything to worry about to begin with. Grantaire sighed. “Look,” he mumbled, “you really don’t have to pretend that you care.”

“What do you mean?” Enjolras asked, withdrawing his hand, folding his arms across his chest.

“We’ve never been… close. Or anything like that. I mean, obviously it’s nice of you to come over here to humor Belle, I really appreciate it, I do, but I just don’t get why.”

Enjolras blinked at him. “I… I do care about you.”

“Right,” Grantaire whispered, shaking his head.

“A lot. I care about you a lot, Grantaire,” Enjolras said, his eyes still fixed on him, making it impossible for Grantaire to look away. “I know I’m not exactly good at showing it, and you never seem to want to talk to me unless it is to tell me that whatever I do is good for nothing,” he added gruffly.

“Well, I always feel like you’re not interested in what I have to say anyway,” Grantaire said loudly. “It’s not like you ever tried to hide that you think that I’m a fucking nuisance.”

“I don’t think that,” Enjolras snapped.

Grantaire shushed him, suddenly remembering that Belle was asleep across the hall.

“I’m not the one who started shouting,” Enjolras whispered angrily.

“Oh, give me a break,” Grantaire grumbled, leaning back against the counter, staring at Enjolras defiantly.

They just stood there for a while, neither of them willing to give in and look away, but something about the way Enjolras was looking at him changed after a while. He didn’t look angry anymore, his face turned soft.

“I meant it, though,” Enjolras said quietly, taking yet another step towards Grantaire. “I care about you.”

Grantaire stood frozen in place, sincerely doubting that he was actually awake for a second when Enjolras reached out to take his hand.

“I’m sorry if I came off as rude, I just don’t… I didn’t know how to bring this up and…” He trailed off, shifting closer still.

Grantaire was pretty sure that he had stopped breathing a while ago and that his body simply kept going because it knew what was quite possibly about to happen. Enjolras was only inches away from him, so close that Grantaire could have counted the freckles on his nose if he’d still been able to do such a simple thing as count. He barely noticed when Enjolras put his other hand on his waist, his touch so, so light and tentative. Really, Grantaire was too occupied with the wave of nervous excitement that washed right over him when Enjolras’ lips brushed against his.

Grantaire had wasted embarrassingly long amounts of time thinking about what kissing Enjolras would be like, but none of it had ever come close to the real thing, he knew that now.

Unsurprisingly their cookies decided to be done right when Grantaire’s brain had started working again and he’d gained control over his hands once more, when he’d pulled Enjolras closer and he’d let out the most gorgeous whimper – right then his fucking kitchen timer had to go and ruin the mood.

Grantaire felt compelled to ignore it for a couple of seconds, held on for a little while longer, and Enjolras let him and made no move to pull away.

“’Aire, are the cookies– _oh_.”

Enjolras pulled away instantly, and Grantaire caught a glimpse of his bright red cheeks and his messy hair for a second before he turned to Belle, who was standing in the doorway, smiling innocently.

“ _Sh_ – Sure, yeah, I think they’re done.” He got the cookies out of the oven and made sure Belle stayed far away until they’d cooled down enough so she wouldn’t burn her fingers.

Enjolras cleared his throat. “I, um, I think I should get going.”

Grantaire looked up, nodding slowly. “I’ll pack you some cookies.”

“Can’t you stay a little longer?” Belle asked, whipping out the puppy eyes again. “I’m going back home tomorrow and then I’ll never see you again.”

“Well, you can always come visit me with your uncle,” Enjolras said to her.

Belle grinned and put a couple of cookies into a Tupperware box for Enjolras, while Grantaire stood by, feeling confused and somewhat stupid. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t just imagined kissing Enjolras right here in his kitchen and he really, really wanted to ask him what the fuck that had been all about, but obviously Enjolras didn’t feel like talking and chose to piss off instead.

Well, Grantaire probably shouldn’t have expected anything else.

* * *

Later on, when Grantaire and Belle had stuffed their faces with cookies and were both too exhausted to get up, Belle crawled into his lap.

Grantaire knew he should be getting Belle into bed, but it was Friday evening and Paul would probably pick her up around noon, which meant that there was no rush.

“’Aire,” Belle whispered, “I saw you and Enjolras kiss.”

Right. He should probably explain that to her. Except that he didn’t know how.

“Mommy says that people kiss when they like each other a lot, and sometimes they go out on dates and then they get married. Are you going out on dates with Enjolras?”

Grantaire shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

“You should,” Belle said sternly. “And then you should get married.”

“Well, sweetie, sometimes it’s not that easy,” Grantaire said, wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the sofa. “Time to go to bed.”

“No, but why isn’t it easy?”

“Because I’m not sure if he wants to go out on dates with me.”

“But he kissed you,” Belle insisted.

“I know.” Grantaire sighed and put her down in the bathroom, so she could get ready for bed. “I guess I’ll have to figure that out.”

* * *

Grantaire spent the following morning collecting everything in his flat that definitely didn’t belong to him – including six stuffed animals that were strewn all over the place.

Paul came by half an hour past noon, thanked him for taking care of Belle for about ten minutes, telling him that they’d be visiting her mother in the hospital in the afternoon and that he was hoping that they might be able to take her home.

Grantaire promised that he’d come by their place sometime during the next and was just about to show them out when the doorbell rang again. He opened the door to find an embarrassed looking Enjolras on his doorstep, waving at them with a shy smile.

“Enjolras,” Belle shrieked and ran to hug him. She tugged at his sleeve until he bent down so she could whisper something in his ear.

Paul watched them with an amused expression; Grantaire felt somewhat queasy, because _what the hell was Enjolras doing here?_

A couple of hugs and thank yous and goodbyes later, Paul and Belle were gone and Grantaire was left with Enjolras, who was still hovering on his doorstep.

“Do you want to come in?” Grantaire asked, taking a step back so Enjolras could come inside.

Enjolras did, smiling uncertainly, his hands buried in the pockets of his coat.

“So, what…” Grantaire started, not quite sure how to even end that sentence. “What did she say?”

“She told me to go out on a date with you, because that’s what you have to do when you kiss someone,” Enjolras said slowly, his eyes carefully studying Grantaire’s face.

Grantaire chuckled. “She’s a smart girl,” he said lightly.

“I agree,” Enjolras said, tilting his head. “So?”

Grantaire raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Will you?”

“Will I what?”

“Go out with me?” Enjolras asked, sounding impatient.

Grantaire cleared his throat, not sure if he was capable of forming a proper sentence because Enjolras actually wanted to go out with him. “I guess we can arrange that.”

“Excellent.” Enjolras was beaming now. “Have you had lunch?”

Grantaire shook his head. “Not yet. Any ideas?”

“We can always go to the Musain,” Enjolras suggested.

Grantaire smiled and quickly pulled on his shoes and a coat, grabbing for Enjolras’ hand when they left. He didn’t even realize what he’d done until they were halfway to the Musain.

“Is everything okay?” Enjolras asked when Grantaire fidgeted nervously.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Grantaire somehow managed to smile and made a quite awkward attempt at changing the subject. “Do you really hit people in your sleep?”

Enjolras laughed. “You’ll see.”


End file.
